Mass balance of Devon Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic
1 January, 2007
Interferometric synthetic aperture radar data show that Devon Ice Cap (DIC), northern Canada, is drained through a network of 11 glacier systems. More than half of all ice discharge is…Archives: Publications
Oceanographic fieldwork in the Amundsen Sea: an overview of cruise JR141
1 January, 2007 by Adrian Jenkins, Deb Shoosmith
Introduction This report provides an overview of a 2006 cruise to the Amundsen Sea, the oceanographic data collected, and how we intend to use these data to further our understanding…Read more on Oceanographic fieldwork in the Amundsen Sea: an overview of cruise JR141
Exploration of Ellsworth Subglacial Lake: a concept paper on the development, organisation and execution of an experiment to explore, measure and sample the environment of a West Antarctic subglacial lake
1 January, 2007 by Andy Smith, Dominic Hodgson, David Pearce, Ed King, Hugh Corr, Keith Makinson, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Antarctic subglacial lakes have, over the past few years, been hypothesised to house unique forms of life and hold detailed sedimentary records of past climate change. Testing this hypothesis requires…Late Glacial history of the Ross Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: evidence from englacial layering at Talos Dome, East Antarctica
1 January, 2007
The timing of West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) expansion and retreat during the last glacial cycle is crucial to evaluating the processes controlling ice sheet fluctuations. There is currently debate…Halogens and their role in polar boundary-layer ozone depletion
1 January, 2007 by Eric Wolff, Howard Roscoe
During springtime in the polar regions, unique photochemistry converts inert halide salt ions (e.g. Br-) into reactive halogen species (e.g. Br atoms and BrO) that deplete ozone in the boundary…Read more on Halogens and their role in polar boundary-layer ozone depletion
Observations of hydroxyl and the sum of peroxy radicals at Summit, Greenland during summer 2003
1 January, 2007
The first measurements of peroxy (HO2+RO2) and hydroxyl (OH) radicals above the arctic snowpack were collected during the summer 2003 campaign at Summit, Greenland. The median measured number densities for…Acclimation effects on thermal tolerances of springtails from sub-Antarctic Marion Island: Indigenous and invasive species
1 January, 2007 by Roger Worland
Collembola are abundant and functionally significant arthropods in sub-Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, and their importance has increased as a consequence of the many invasive alien species that have been introduced to…Scavenging in Antarctica: intense variation between sites and seasons in shallow benthic necrophagy
1 January, 2007 by David Barnes
The response of scavengers to a feeding cue at Adelaide Island, West Antarctic Peninsula was investigated using a baited video camera system. Fourteen experimental deployments, each lasting 72 h were…Ice disturbance intensity structures benthic communities in nearshore Antarctic waters
1 January, 2007
Ice scouring is one of the 5 most significant natural forces acting on ecosystems, yet very few data exist linking the intensity of ice disturbance with parameters of benthic community…Read more on Ice disturbance intensity structures benthic communities in nearshore Antarctic waters
The influence of depth, site exposure and season on the intensity of iceberg scouring in nearshore Antarctic waters
1 January, 2007 by David Barnes
Ice scour disturbance has a significant effect on the physical and biological characteristics of polar benthos. A series of grids, each consisting of 25 markers, were deployed along depth transects…The influence of ice scour on benthic communities at three contrasting sites at Adelaide Island, Antarctica
1 January, 2007 by David Barnes
Ice scouring is a key structuring force acting on high latitude shallow benthic communities. Despite its importance, detailed studies of scoured communities are still rare. Here we report the ecological…Scotia Arc kinematics from GPS geodesy
1 January, 2007 by Ed King
GPS crustal velocity data from the Scotia and South Sandwich plates, transform azimuths, spreading data, and an updated earthquake slip vector catalog provide the first Scotia and South Sandwich plate…Six million years of environmental (glacial – interglacial) conditions preserved in volcanic lithofacies of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group, northern Antarctic Peninsula
1 January, 2007 by Joanne Johnson
The Neogene geological record in the James Ross Island region (northern Antarctic Peninsula) is dominated by the products of at least 50 mainly effusive basaltic volcanic eruptions that are preserved…Rapid erosion, drumlin formation, and changing hydrology beneath an Antarctic ice stream
1 January, 2007 by Andy Smith, David Vaughan, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls
What happens beneath a glacier affects the way it flows and the landforms left behind when it retreats. Direct observations from beneath glaciers are, however, rare and the subglacial environment…Subglacial bed properties from normal-incidence seismic reflection data
1 January, 2007 by Andy Smith
Recent applications of the normal-incidence seismic reflection technique to studying subglacial conditions are summarized. Some of the important aspects of the technique are discussed, including critical acquisition parameters and particular…Read more on Subglacial bed properties from normal-incidence seismic reflection data
Holocene relative sea level changes in a glacio-isostatic area: new data from south-west Scotland, United Kingdom
1 January, 2007 by Peter Fretwell
This paper contributes to knowledge of Holocene relative sea level change along the mainland Ayrshire coast and offshore Isle of Bute, SW Scotland, UK, where few such studies have previously…George VI Ice Shelf: past history, present behaviour and potential mechanisms for future collapse
1 January, 2007 by Dominic Hodgson, James Smith
George VI Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, covering a total area of 25 000 km2. The northern ice front of…Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of early Holocene ice shelf retreat, George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctica Peninsula
1 January, 2007 by Dominic Hodgson, James Smith, Stephen Roberts
We use lake sediment records from an epishelf lake on Alexander Island to provide a detailed picture of the Holocene history of George VI Ice Shelf (GVI-IS). Core analyses included;…Metabolic recovery of the Antarctic liverwort Cephaloziella varians during spring snowmelt
1 January, 2007 by Kevin Newsham, Peter Convey
We measured the responses of pigments and chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters of the Antarctic leafy liverwort Cephaloziella varians to snowmelt during austral spring 2005 at Rothera Point on the western…An energy–distance trade-off in a central-place forager, the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella)
1 January, 2007 by Iain Staniland
We tested the prediction that lactating fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) at South Georgia will take prey of greater energy density with increasing distance of foraging from the colony. The study…Evolution of the Antarctic marine fauna: what can DNA and fossils tell us?
1 January, 2007 by Katrin Linse
The opening of the Drake Passage, establishment of the Polar Front and the onset of cooling around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary have been recognised as the most significant events in shaping…Read more on Evolution of the Antarctic marine fauna: what can DNA and fossils tell us?
Molecular phylogeny of coleoid cephalopods (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) inferred from three mitochondrial and six nuclear loci: a comparison of alignment, implied alignment and analysis methods
1 January, 2007
Recent molecular studies investigating higher-level phylogenetics of coleoid cephalopods (octopuses, squids and cuttlefishes) have produced conflicting results. A wide range of sequence alignment and analysis methods are used in cephalopod…A barcode of life database for the Cephalopoda? Considerations and concerns
1 January, 2007
The concept of a Barcode of Life Database (BoLD) for the Class Cephalopoda (Phylum Mollusca) was introduced at the Cephalopod International Advisory Council (CIAC) symposium in Hobart, Australia, February 2006.…Read more on A barcode of life database for the Cephalopoda? Considerations and concerns
Timescales for radiation belt electron acceleration and loss due to resonant wave-particle interactions: 1. Theory
1 January, 2007 by Nigel Meredith
Radiation belt electrons can interact with various modes of plasma wave in their drift orbits about the Earth, including whistler-mode chorus outside the plasmasphere, and both whistler-mode hiss and electromagnetic…Timescales for radiation belt electron acceleration and loss due to resonant wave-particle interactions: 2. Evaluation for VLF chorus, ELF hiss, and electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves
1 January, 2007 by Nigel Meredith
Outer zone radiation belt electrons can undergo gyroresonant interaction with various magnetospheric wave modes including whistler-mode chorus outside the plasmasphere and both whistler-mode hiss and electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves…Recruitment of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba in the South Georgia region: adult fecundity and the fate of larvae
1 January, 2007 by Eugene Murphy, Geraint Tarling, Peter Ward, Sally Thorpe
The high concentration of adult Antarctic krill Euphausia superba Dana around South Georgia, Antarctica, is a product of immigration and not local recruitment. We investigated whether reproduction and early larval…Life-cycle and population dynamics of Rhincalanus gigas (Copepoda: Calanoida) in the Scotia Sea
1 January, 2007 by Geraint Tarling, Peter Ward
A stage- and age-structured model was constructed to simulate stage-abundance patterns of Rhincalanus gigas in a data set consisting of over 80 yr of net-catch observations in the Scotia Sea.…A reappraisal of the habitability of planets around M dwarf stars
1 January, 2007 by Andrew Clarke
Stable, hydrogen-burning, M dwarf stars make up about 75% of all stars in the Galaxy. They are extremely long-lived, and because they are much smaller in mass than the Sun…Read more on A reappraisal of the habitability of planets around M dwarf stars
The 8.2 ka event from Greenland ice cores
1 January, 2007 by Eric Wolff, Liz Thomas, Robert Mulvaney
We present a collection of high-resolution chemistry and stable isotope records from the plateau of the Greenland ice cap during the cold event 8200 yr ago. Using a composite of…Nighttime ionospheric D-region parameters from VLF phase and amplitude
1 January, 2007 by Mark Clilverd
Nighttime ionospheric D region heights and electron densities are determined from an extensive set of VLF radio phase and amplitude observations. The D region parameters are characterized by the traditional…Read more on Nighttime ionospheric D-region parameters from VLF phase and amplitude
Refilling of the slot region between the inner and outer electron radiation belts during geomagnetic storms
1 January, 2007 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
Energetic electrons (≥50 keV) are injected into the slot region (2 < L < 4) between the inner and outer radiation belts during the early recovery phase of geomagnetic storms.…Environmental forcing and Southern Ocean marine predator populations: effects of climate change and variability
1 January, 2007 by Eugene Murphy, Jaume Forcada, Philip Trathan
The Southern Ocean is a major component within the global ocean and climate system and potentially the location where the most rapid climate change is most likely to happen, particularly…Polar meteorology – understanding global impacts
1 January, 2007 by John Turner
In recent years, there has been an unprecedented level of interest in the climate and environmental conditions of the polar regions. The discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, record low…Read more on Polar meteorology – understanding global impacts
Workshop on the Antarctic wind field
1 January, 2007 by John Turner
The Antarctic is the windiest continent on Earth, with many of the coastal research stations affected by strong katabatic winds. The strength and persistence of the near-surface winds was noted…An Arctic and Antarctic perspective on recent climate change
1 January, 2007 by John Turner
We contrast recent climatic and environmental changes and their causes in the Arctic and the Antarctic. There are continuing increases in surface temperatures, losses of sea ice and tundra, and…Read more on An Arctic and Antarctic perspective on recent climate change
Differences in ice retreat across Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica, since the Last Glacial Maximum: indications from multichannel seismic reflection data. (Short Research Paper 084)
1 January, 2007 by Robert Larter
An understanding of the glacial history of Pine Island Bay (PIB) is essential for refining models of the future stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). New multichannel seismic…Unravelling signs of global change in the ionosphere
1 January, 2007 by Mark Clilverd
As a consequence of alterations of atmospheric chemical composition due to anthropogenic emissions, Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere are expected to change. A number of authors tried to detect signs of…Read more on Unravelling signs of global change in the ionosphere
Widespread association between the ericoid mycorrhizal fungus Rhizoscyphus ericae and a leafy liverwort in the maritime and sub-Antarctic
1 January, 2007 by Kevin Newsham
A recent study identified a fungal isolate from the Antarctic leafy liverwort Cephaloziella varians as the ericoid mycorrhizal associate Rhizoscyphus ericae. However, nothing is known about the wider Antarctic distribution…Early is better: seasonal egg fitness and timing of reproduction in a zooplankton life-history model
1 January, 2007 by Geraint Tarling
Timing of reproduction influences future prospects of offspring and therefore the reproductive value of parents. Early offspring are often more valuable than later ones when food availability and predation risk…Climate and geology – a Phanerozoic perspective
1 January, 2007
The Phanerozoic is comprised of over 540 million years and, with its defining accompaniment of abundant complex life, provides us with a unique perspective on the extremes of climate change.…Read more on Climate and geology – a Phanerozoic perspective
A new supercontinent self-destruct mechanism: evidence from the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic
1 January, 2007
We present a new conceptual model where supercontinents, by focusing subduction on narrow areas of the 670 km mantle discontinuity, trigger superplume events and initiate their own fragmentation. This supercontinent-triggered…West Antarctic links to sea level estimation
1 January, 2007 by David Vaughan
A recent report from Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC, 2007] highlighted the increasingly precise observations of sea level rise that are obtainable from satellite…Why is it hard to predict the future of ice sheets?
1 January, 2007 by David Vaughan, Robert Arthern
Ice sheet retreat, hypotheses of instability could be missing important processes that limit the rate or extent of retreat, or conversely, Ice sheet behavior is strongly influenced by processes at…Read more on Why is it hard to predict the future of ice sheets?
Topographic and hydrological controls on Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica
1 January, 2007 by David Vaughan, Hugh Corr
Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE) was identified using reconnaissance data collected in the 1970s, here we present more detailed surveys. SLE lies beneath 3.2 km of ice in a subglacial valley…Read more on Topographic and hydrological controls on Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica
Latitudinal extent of the January 2005 solar proton event in the Northern Hemisphere from satellite observations of hydroxyl
1 January, 2007 by Mark Clilverd
We utilise hydroxyl observations from the MLS/Aura satellite instrument to study the latitudinal extent of particle forcing in the northern polar region during the January 2005 solar proton event. MLS…Historical processes constrain patterns in global diatom diversity
1 January, 2007 by Dominic Hodgson
There is a long-standing belief that microbial organisms have unlimited dispersal capabilities, are therefore ubiquitous, and show weak or absent latitudinal diversity gradients. In contrast, using a global freshwater diatom…Read more on Historical processes constrain patterns in global diatom diversity
Oceanic heat transport onto the Amundsen Sea shelf through a submarine glacial trough
1 January, 2007 by Adrian Jenkins
Glaciers which drain the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) into the Amundsen Sea are accelerating and thinning rapidly. These observations have been attributed to the regional oceanography whereby heat contained…Read more on Oceanic heat transport onto the Amundsen Sea shelf through a submarine glacial trough
Plankton community structure south and west of South Georgia (Southern Ocean): links with production and physical forcing
1 January, 2007 by Emma Young, Peter Ward, Sally Thorpe
During late December 2004 and early January 2005 the plankton community to the south and west of South Georgia was investigated. Satellite imagery had shown the surface expression of a…Oithona similis in a high latitude ecosystem: abundance, distribution and temperature limitation of fecundity rates in a sac spawning copepod
1 January, 2007 by Peter Ward
In this study we report the abundance, fecundity and an index of mortality of Oithona similis across a large latitudinal and temperature range within the Southern Ocean. The abundance of…Underwater images from bird-borne cameras provide clue to poor breeding success of Shags in 2005
1 January, 2007
The first underwater digital photographs obtained by cameras carried by Shags PhaJacrocorax aristoteJis showed the birds diving in areas dominated by soft coral Alcyonium digitatum and feeding on butterfish PhoJis…The effect of a new drag law parameterization on Ice Shelf Water plume dynamics.
1 January, 2007 by Paul Holland
A drag law accounting for Ekman rotation adjacent to a flat, horizontal boundary is proposed for use in a plume model that is written in terms of the depth-mean velocity.…Read more on The effect of a new drag law parameterization on Ice Shelf Water plume dynamics.
Relative effect of taphonomy on calcification temperature estimates from fossil planktonic foraminfera
1 January, 2007 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
This paper explores the effects of preservation and taphonomy on the ultrastructure of recent and fossil (Quaternary and Neogene) Globigerinoides using scanning electron microscopy and thin section petrography. We show…The geological evolution of southern McMurdo Sound – new evidence from a high-resolution aeromagnetic survey
1 January, 2007 by Tom Jordan
Magnetic anomaly data are presented from a new helicopter-borne high-resolution aeromagnetic survey in southern McMurdo Sound. Anomaly data have been acquired at a common 305 m elevation above the McMurdo…Methane and nitrous oxide in the ice core record
1 January, 2007 by Eric Wolff
Polar ice cores contain, in trapped air bubbles, an archive of the concentrations of stable atmospheric gases. Of the major non-CO2 greenhouse gases, methane is measured quite routinely, while nitrous…Read more on Methane and nitrous oxide in the ice core record
Frozen in time: the chemistry of polar ice cores
1 January, 2007 by Eric Wolff
Predicting the future of our Earth and its climate requires models that contain good representations of the key processes that might take place. Our only way to determine what these…Read more on Frozen in time: the chemistry of polar ice cores
International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) and the future of European ice coring
1 January, 2007 by Eric Wolff
Ice cores have been a cornerstone of global change research in recent decades. Europe has been at the forefront of this science, particularly through the GRIP and EPICA projects funded…When is the “present”?
1 January, 2007 by Eric Wolff
Recent recommendations for the expression of time units in Quaternary Science Reviews appear still to leave room for confusion. Here, I propose that the entire palaeoclimate community should agree on…Past atmospheric composition and chemistry from ice cores – progress and prospects
1 January, 2007 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff
Ice cores provide the most direct evidence available about the past atmosphere. For long-lived trace gases, ice cores have provided clear evidence that in the last two centuries, concentrations of…Read more on Past atmospheric composition and chemistry from ice cores – progress and prospects
Persistent dynamic correlations in self-organized critical systems away from their critical point
1 January, 2007
We show that correlated dynamics and long time memory persist in self-organized criticality (SOC) systems even when forced away from the defined critical point that exists at vanishing drive strength.…Temporal resolution of cold acclimation and de-acclimation in the Antarctic collembolan, Cryptopygus antarcticus
1 January, 2007 by Roger Worland
The Antarctic collembolan, Cryptopygus antarcticus (Willem), can switch its supercooling point (SCP) between 'winter' and 'summer' modes of cold hardiness over a matter of hours. High resolution temporal scaling of…Atmospheric trends and radiative forcings of CF4 and C2F6 inferred from firn air
1 January, 2007 by Robert Mulvaney
The atmospheric histories of two potent greenhouse gases, tetrafluoromethane (CF4) and hexafluoroethane (C2F6), have been reconstructed for the 20th century based on firn air measurements from both hemispheres. The reconstructed…Read more on Atmospheric trends and radiative forcings of CF4 and C2F6 inferred from firn air
Predator–prey interactions: why do larger albatrosses eat bigger squid?
1 January, 2007
The relationship between predator sizes and prey sizes is well documented for terrestrial but rarely for marine ecosystems. We show that wandering albatrosses, the biggest albatross species, feed on larger…Read more on Predator–prey interactions: why do larger albatrosses eat bigger squid?
Interannual variation in cephalopod consumption by albatrosses at South Georgia: implications for future commercial exploitation of cephalopods
1 January, 2007 by Andrew Wood, Paul Rodhouse
Assessing the consumption of prey by predators in the marine environment is key to fisheries assessment and management. Although environmental and ecological variations can affect the consumption of certain prey…Size and structure of bacterial, fungal and nematode communities along an Antarctic environmental gradient
1 January, 2007
The unusually harsh environmental conditions of terrestrial Antarctic habitats result in ecosystems with simplified trophic structures, where microbial processes are especially dominant as drivers of soil-borne nutrient cycling. We examined…Functional microarray analysis of nitrogen and carbon cycling genes across an Antarctic latitudinal transect
1 January, 2007
Soil-borne microbial communities were examined via a functional gene microarray approach across a southern polar latitudinal gradient to gain insight into the environmental factors steering soil Nand C-cycling in terrestrial…Patterns of bacterial diversity across a range of Antarctic terrestrial habitats
1 January, 2007 by David Pearce, Kevin Newsham
Although soil-borne bacteria represent the world's greatest source of biological diversity, it is not well understood whether extreme environmental conditions, such as those found in Antarctic habitats, result in reduced…Read more on Patterns of bacterial diversity across a range of Antarctic terrestrial habitats
Simulation of the climatic effects of natural forcings during the pre-industrial era
1 January, 2007 by Zhaomin Wang
The MPM-2, an Earth system model of intermediate complexity, is employed to study the climate system response to natural forcings during the pre-industrial era (1000-1800 AD), with a special focus…Read more on Simulation of the climatic effects of natural forcings during the pre-industrial era
Response of the inner and outer magnetosphere to solar wind density fluctuations during the recovery phase of a moderate magnetic storm
1 January, 2007
We examine the geomagnetic field and space plasma disturbances developing simultaneously in the solar wind, in the inner and outer magnetosphere, and on the ground from 0730 to 2030 UT…